Five games for your Christmas viewing pleasure. Christmas Day has turned into the NBA’s day in recent years. They are sure to display the league’s top talent, as they should, and it makes for an exciting breakfast, lunch and dinner of roundball. As of press time, we are missing picks from a couple of experts but I wanted to get this post up prior to the craziness that will ensue for everyone tomorrow morning. And I have to make sure the tepee that Santa brought my son stays intact before I hit the hay myself.
The numbers in the parenthesis are the number of experts that picked that player to give you more context as to the gaps between players and the tiers.
Highly Touted
- Chris Paul (7x) – Four double-doubles in his last five games. On Monday against OKC, Paul put up 32 points, 10 assists and five rebounds.
- Kawhi Leonard (7x) – He has averaged 22.2ppg and 6.2rpg over his last five contests.
- Hassan Whiteside (7x) – It has been a long time since Hassan has had a game where he didn’t put up double-digit rebounds. He has averaged 19ppg and 13.5rpg over his last two outings.
Recommended
- Kobe Bryant (6x) – Kobe has found his touch again of late. Outside of his DNP last Saturday, he has put up 23.5ppg in his last four.
- Lebron James (6x) – Lebron has averaged 25.8ppg over his last five games.
- Russell Westbrook (5x) – Russell is a triple-double waiting to happen. His 23-8-8 line his last time out is pretty on par with his season numbers.
Suggested
- Beno Udrih (4x) – Udrih played 34 minutes in the Heat’s last game. Prior to that, he was not playing much. I’d have trouble putting a lot of trust in a guy that hasn’t seen consistent minutes.
- Jimmy Butler (3x) – Butler has become the centerpiece of the Bulls offense. He’s averaging 21.5ppg and 5rpg this season.
- Luol Deng (3x) – He’s scored in single digits in three of his last four outings.
- Blake Griffin (3x) – Griffin’s rebounding numbers have lagged a bit this year. He has not posted a double digit rebounding game in the last five outings.
- Taj Gibson (3x) – Gibson’s minutes have been up-and-down this year. The 4OT game against Detroit was his only double-double recently.
- Deandre Jordan (3x) – Jordan has averaged 12rpg in his last five. He’s only scored in double digits twice over that span.
- Tyreke Evans (3x) – Evans has put up solid numbers since becoming healthy. He’s averaging 16.4ppg, 6.6apg and 6.0rpg this season.
- LaMarcus Aldridge (3x) – Aldridge has seen a dip in his numbers now that he’s not the A#1 option in an NBA offense. He has only averaged 11ppg and 8.5rpg in the last two games.
- Jrue Holiday (3x) – I think Holiday’s ownership might be low tomorrow, making him a good play. He has averaged 17.6ppg over the last five contests.
Good luck everyone and catch us next Tuesday for the next edition of Expert Consensus.
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